Winter's Trek
by boombamfirepower
Summary: Sometimes all you really need is a hike in the woods


A/N: Hey guys…Its been a while huh?

Not sure when I'll be updating Dawn of the Wolf but here's a one shot to start making up for lost time.

Very loosely based off of MagicAlpha's one shot "Tourmaline". Enjoy!

OoOoOoO

Po was an observant panda when he wanted to be. He knew that Monkey preferred scalding hot baths, that Crane drew certain characters depending on his mood. He knew that when Viper tilted her head, she heard prey somewhere on the grounds of the palace. He even knew Shifu, who learned flute melodies from his father and who had a weak spot for mahjong gambling.

Tigress had taken a while to figure out, but even she had her tells.

But for the three years he'd been living at the palace, sharing meals with his comrades, fighting the villany of Shen and Tai Lung, he still couldn't figure out where she went on her walks.

Their days were usually consistent. Group training in the morning, lunch and meditation, and then individual training in the afternoons. They worked sun-up to sundown every day but holidays. But no matter what, every night after dinner, Tigress would take a walk. They could have been gone days and come back injured,and she would still disappear. Usually it was only for an hour.

It puzzled him.

Of course, he was too scared to actually ask her about it. That is….until Gongmen.

They had grown quite close, and try as he might to quell the fluttering in chest each time she laughed, or stop staring when she was doing some menial task, he found himself wanting to be closer to her.

The day after their return, they had been given two days off, and it was sorely needed. All of them were injured in some way. Tigress had several broken ribs, as did Po. Crane's wing was broken. Monkey had a concussion and Viper's entire body was sore. But it wasn't just the injuries.

Even before Gongmen, the nightmares ran rampant. Po usually woke several times a night, always running to save someone he couldn't see from a threat he couldn't define. That constant feeling of failure settled in his bones, weighing on him more than his naturally robust belly. He had gotten used to them, which was bad...he shouldn't be getting used to nightmares.

Po had decided on a long hot bath the day after their return, to help the throbbing in his chest and his persistent headache. When he eventually emerged from the bathhouse, he noticed his feline best friend nearing the edge of the grounds, off on another walk.

Fur still wet and headache not quite soothed, he jogged over to her.

"Ti!" He called to her, and she turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Look, I gotta know," he rubbed his hands nervously together, the sudden burst of courage fading. "Where do you go on your walks?"

"Huh?" Obviously caught off guard, she furrowed her brow.

"You always disappear...I was just wonderin' where you go?"

She hesitated, her eyes watching him as though she were searching for something. He felt the tension, and suddenly felt really bad about saying anything.

"Look, you don't have to-"

"Come with me." She said finally, catching him off guard. "But you might want a coat or something." Her auburn eyes scanned over his wet fur and he blushed.

Ten minutes later, he jogged back to where she was standing, robe in hand, grateful that she had waited for him.

"It's kind of a hike...so let me know if you need to stop." Her muzzle raised in a smirk.

Normally, he would have laughed, but his chest hurt too much.

The climb began behind the kitchen, on a narrow path he probably wouldn't have noticed by himself. Together, they began the slow incline, single file. She knew the path, every big rock and crevasse and tree root, but he didn't. He tripped, and did it often, and each time she would patiently help him up. The deep ache in his muscles came quicker than he anticipated, twenty minutes in he was huffing, his breath coming out in the cold as puffs of air as he leaned heavily on a tree.

"Let's stop for a sec." She insisted.

" I mean I'm good I just-"

"For me too." He hadn't noticed it, but she was struggling too. The cold air burned in his chest, made more painful by the ache in his ribs. He could only assume she felt the same.

"Where are we going?" He murmured into the quiet dusk. He couldn't see the sun, but the woods around him were darkening, becoming emeralds and deep blues.

"It's a surprise." She replied mischievously, seemingly recovered. She stood, and he followed suit, only feeling slightly better than he had before. "It's not too far. Almost there."

'Almost there' could have meant miles when talking to Tigress. Thankfully, it really wasn't that far. Two more bends and a sudden steep incline, and they were there.

Reaching the top, panting and slightly dizzy, he didn't really register it at first.

The outcropping was pretty large-it extended off the mountain several yards. The trees had faded a long ways behind them, but grass still grew, covered in snow. The mountain extended up behind them, casting a long shadow across the outcrop. Out in the distance, the lights of the Valley twinkled in the twilight like a thousand tiny candles among a sea of snow that covered the emerald green of the forest.

For lack of a better word, it was breathtaking.

"Woah." He crept towards the edge, looking wide-eyed out at the sky of stars and the clouds bringing more snow in the distance.

Tigress watched him quietly, amused at his gaping expression.

"How did you find this place?" He asked her, eyes drifting up the rockface behind them.

"Oogway." She smiled slightly.

"So then why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you come up here?"

She hesitated, and he worried that he'd overstepped.

"You're relatively new at this whole 'being a king Fu master' thing." She finally said, voice quiet. She sat on a large boulder near the edge of the cliff. "Over time, things don't always go the way you plan. People die."

His eyes went wide.

"You have to have a way to cope with it. Viper lights a candle, Crane writes their name in calligraphy and then burns it, Monkey says a prayer, Mantis meditates…"

"And this is yours?" He gestured to the city below when her voice trailed off.

She nodded.

"All those people are alive, are safe because of what we do. It may sound strange but-"

"No, I get it." He sat on a boulder next to her, leaving space between them even though what he really wanted to do was pull her into his side.

"I know you've been having nightmares, Po." She eyed him, not facing him. He looked to his paws, blush spreading across his cheeks. "We all get them, there's no shame in it."

"When do they stop?" He cursed the feebleness of his voice.

"I don't know if they ever will." She replied. "But eventually, you realize that there are things that are more important than mourning the people you can't save."

He went quiet a moment, thinking back on Shen and the events of the previous few days.

"Thanks." He finally replied. "For understanding, I mean. I can't exactly tell Shifu cause he's try to train it out of me, and I can't tell my dad because in case you haven't noticed, he's kind of overprotective but like-"

"Po." She was holding back a smile, and she pressed her shoulder reassuringly against his. "You're welcome."

The first flakes of snow began to fall as they descended, and he relished in the quietness of it's fall, the muted atmosphere that snow brought with it. There were no cannons as he drifted to sleep, no terrified cries from Gongmen citizens, only silence.

And peace.


End file.
